Four Books That Make A Huge Difference

Here at Bean Up The Nose Art, we're big believers in the power of words.  And we love books.  And today, we feature four that have profoundly influenced the way we think about and do art, creativity, and communication.  In other words, WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND THEM.

The Artist's Way, by Julia Cameron

Holy moly.  I don't think I will ever stop talking about this book.  We featured it here in November, during Beans' Month of Gratitude.  And am no less grateful for it today.  If not for this book, there would be no Bean Up The Nose Art.  Because I never would have thought of myself as an artist -- at all -- and never would have known that visual arts had such a strong pull on me.

I read Ms. Cameron's book and worked its several-week program in 2003.  Eight years later, I am still doing The Morning Pages.  (Which you will learn about when you read this book.  Which you should.)  Any time I stop, my world goes completely awry.  It is that powerful.  The connection with your creativity that this book's program creates is astonishing and wonderful.  There is no book I would recommend more for people who feel creative, but do not think they are "artists" or "artistic."  YOU ARE.  Read this book and start manifesting what the heck you were meant to make.  WE NEED YOU!!!

Hamlet's Blackberry, by William Powers

This is another book I talk about a lot.  Because it is just so darned wonderful.  Mr. Powers chronicles the ways that humans have -- across time -- wrestled with integrating new technologies into their lives.  This book is just as responsible for creating Bean Up The Nose Art as is The Artist's Way.  Because if I didn't have access to the very cool ways that Mr. Powers discusses technology and how we adapt to it . . . use it, and take breaks from it . . . I would not have embraced the internet and social media as a way of communicating, creating, marketing, and doing business.  And that would have been very sad, indeed.  Because guess what?  All of that turns out to be just as fun and creative as making your art itself.  And it is very effective in your business, too.  What could be better?

The Information, by James Gleick

This is a very long, dense book.  I recommend listening to it as an audio version while you are driving for long stretches.  It will blow you away.  Mr. Gleick traces human modes of communication, beginning with African drumming and moving up through the computer age.  His ideas and insights about information and our communication of it -- well, they are amazing.  As with Hamlet's Blackberry, it made me take many long, deep, appreciative breaths for what humans are capable of  . . . instead of misanthropically believing that every new turn of technology really is the harbinger of the end of things.  It opened my eyes and made me happy about communication and creativity, and humans' passions for both.

Unmarketing, by Scott Stratten 
In style, this book is the complete opposite of The Information.  It is a very fast read, smartly written in bite (byte)-sized chapters that you really could start anywhere.  But in its effect, this book is just the same as The Information.  Both had me doing the happy dance every single time I delved into them. Scott Stratten's attitude and teachings about the ways that humans market, desire, communicate, hook up are awesome.  You will come away from this book seeing the power and joys of social media.  Humor, good feelings, gratitude, and smart-assedness abound.  Read it and learn.

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Would love to know what books you've found inspiring in your art, communication, and business worlds!  Drop us a line!  Post a comment!!!  Thank you for playing!!!